Pressmennan Wood - Stenton, nr Dunbar

Site Description

Pressmennan Wood is situated to the north of Deuchie Dod hill and the south-east of Pressmennan Lake. The wood is approximately 1.5km to the south of the village of Stenton in East Lothian, and lies between the altitudes of 125m above sea level in the north-east below the lake and 275m above sea level on the slopes of Deuchrie Dod at Gallows Law. The wood faces in a general north-westerly direction.

The geology of the area is mainly Silurian - Llandovery, greywackes, siltstones and mudstones, with a small area of Upper Devonian/ Lower carboniferous red sandstone at the western end. This gives rise to brown forest soils with some gleying in the sandstone areas. The soils tend to be deeper on the flatter areas and thinner on the steeper slopes. The MLURI climate map identifies the area as fairly warm, rather dry lowland, being moderately exposed with moderate winters.

Pressmennan occupies an extremely prominent position, easily catching the eye from miles around from the north, east and west. . The surrounding landscape is characterised by narrow, scattered, ancient cleugh woodlands to the east towards the coast and shelterbelts with occasional larger woodlands dotted throughout a fairly intensive agricultural landscape. Pressmennan therefore stands out as one of the larger ancient woodland areas within East Lothian. The land to the south of the wood is grazed moor land and open hill with occasional smaller scale commercial woodland plantings. To the north and out with WTS ownership, the ancient woodland extends in a narrow strip around the lake for approximately 11ha.

Pressmennan Wood is recorded on the inventory as Ancient Semi Natural Woodland, however it has been greatly altered throughout its history leading to its current classification of Planted Ancient Woodland Site (PAWS). Within the Trust’s ownership the wood comprises of approximately 86ha of mixed conifer and broadleaves, with conifer dominating. The conifer dates from the late 1950’s and include, Norway spruce, Douglas fir, European larch, and Scots pine. The broadleaves fall into approximately 4 categories; 1) Secure functioning semi-natural ancient woodland and scattered veteran trees throughout the wood. These tend to be sessile oak, ash with some beech and birch and are NVC type W11 and W7. 2) Plantings from the 1950’s, usually in mixture with the conifers, mainly beech, sycamore, sessile oak and ash. 3) Areas of more recent natural regeneration or planting dating from the mid-1970’s to the present. There are areas of natural regeneration scattered throughout the wood mainly of conifers such as larch and Douglas fir, but also occasional broadleaves such as ash, oak, rowan and birch. 4) Restocking following small clearfells and windblow clearance from mid 90/ to present. These comprise entirely of native broadleaves suited to the site, oak, ash and birch with mixed native shrubs. Rhododendron is also present and spreading on the lower slopes of the woodland and bramble and raspberries are found throughout the wood.

The ground flora varies with over storey and altitude. Over most of the area there is a thick covering of woodrush and wood sorrel, which in various areas is mixed with bracken, ransomes, bluebells, primroses, bugle, dogs’ mercury and foxgloves. On the higher slopes however soft grasses, with occasional patches of whins dominate the ground flora. The vegetation underneath some of the denser conifer and beech stands is sparser, but includes foxgloves. There are also patches of nettles throughout the site.

Throughout the site deadwood levels vary from rare to occasional with higher levels associated with the areas of veteran trees. Windblow throughout is helping to add to the deadwood habitat.

In the east of compartment 3 there are significant areas of open glades, which have been partly colonised by whins. In the north-west of the wood, Bennet’s Burn runs east through compartment 1, providing a riparian habitat to the wood. The lake, one of only 3 in Scotland and originally flooded in 1812 provides the woods northern boundary and along with Bennet's burn provides a habitat for otters, which have been recorded in both of these areas. An electricity wayleave runs through the east of compartment 4 providing permanent open ground habitat.

The wood is a haven for wildlife and is host to Roe deer, hare, rabbit, vole, badger, bats and otter all recorded on site. There is also vibrant birdlife though no formal survey has been carried out but includes tawny owls, buzzards, woodpeckers and treecreepers. Strong fungal communities, particularly within the areas dominated by veteran trees or where good levels of deadwood, are present.

The wood is recorded on the Roy map C.1760, which gives it the status of semi-natural woodland (1a), and in the 1860 O.S. map as mixed woodland (2a) on the ancient woodland inventory.

It is reputed that timber from Pressmennan was used in the building of the warship The Great Michael at Leith back in the 15th century although we have no records to confirm this. However, records do exist of timber being cut in Pressmennan since the 1700's.There are also records from 1812, which show the estate importing seed from all over the world, calling into question the provenance of the remaining veteran trees in the woodland. Mature oak woodland still existed in 1955 when the Forestry Commission bought Pressmennan from Biel & Dirleton estates. Most of the wood was then clear-felled and replanted with a mixture of species, predominately conifers - Norway spruce, Douglas fir, European larch, and Scots pine. The only significant piece of the mature oak wood to survive was a strip along the bank of the lake; however there are also individual and small groups of precursor (pre clearance) mature broadleaves and coppice stools scattered throughout the wood.

The Woodland Trust acquired the wood from the Forestry Commission in 1988. Since this time, the Trust has carried out several thinning operations, concentrating on removing a proportion of conifers. Several medium scale clear fells and restocking operations concentrated on areas badly affected by windblow have also been undertaken. Restocking in 1999 and 2003 was with oak, ash, birch, hazel and rowan.

The wood offers excellent public access, with approximately 6.5km of internal paths of different grades. The wood ties in with the wider network both as part of medium length return loop from the village of Stenton or as part of longer distance routes from the east and west and is included as a candidate core path in the draft plan 2007. The car park at the west entrance to the wood has parking facilities for approximately 6 cars. Visitors to the wood can enjoy panoramic views, from the paths highest point on the slopes of Gallows Law.

There is reasonable vehicular access to the wood via an unclassified road from Stenton, which turns onto a rougher but easily negotiable track for the last 300-400m to the car park.

Management access can be obtained from the car park along the 2 main tracks.